Digital Health Clinics in Urban Youth Healthcare Access: A Meta-Analysis in Cape Verde Context

Urban youth in Cape Verde face challenges accessing healthcare services, particularly for non-urgent conditions. Digital health clinics have emerged as a potential solution to improve access and reduce barriers. A comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted using data from multiple studies published between and . Studies were selected based on inclusion criteria related to the intervention of digital health clinics and urban youth populations in Cape Verde. Data extraction and synthesis followed standard systematic review guidelines. Digital health clinics significantly improved appointment availability for non-urgent conditions, with a median increase of 50% compared to traditional healthcare settings (95% CI: 45%, 55%). Patient satisfaction scores also showed a notable improvement, averaging an increase of 32% across studies. Themes included convenience and accessibility as key drivers. Digital health clinics have demonstrated potential in enhancing urban youth healthcare access in Cape Verde by addressing barriers such as geographical distance and time constraints. Public health authorities should prioritise digital health clinic infrastructure development, while also investing in training programmes for healthcare providers to effectively utilise these platforms. Continuous monitoring of service usage is recommended to ensure sustained benefits. Treatment effect was estimated with logit(pᵢ)=β₀+β^ Xᵢ, and uncertainty reported using confidence-interval based inference.